Seattle Sports: In the Morning

Ken Whisenhunt assesses the NFC West: "A lot of people think the NFC West is not a very good division. I don't agree. I think you have some young teams that are making strides." (In other words, the NFC West is not a very good division.)

M's AAAers in Tacoma have pretty good motivation to make the majors, writes the P-I's David Andriesen: "Recent upgrades to 48-year-old Cheney Stadium haven't extended to the players' off-field areas. Paint is peeling off the dugout ceiling, where the vinyl covering the bench is wearing through and the bat rack is made of PVC pipes. In the clubhouse, players don't sit on leather sofas and watch flat-screen televisions. They sit on benches and play Uno and eat tuna sandwiches."

Brandon Morrow, getting his mind right at AA, threw a perfect inning yesterday--striking out two and, most importantly, not walking anyone.

Speaking of the minors, if you want yourself some sweet knuckleball action, head to Tacoma tonight--R.A. Dickey gets the start for the Rainiers.

Lookout Landing's happy about the pitching matchups in Baltimore: "Well thank god we named Jarrod Washburn the 4th starter over Miguel Batista because otherwise we might have had the misfortune of being forced to witness a Trachsel-Batista matchup, a game sure to rival only curtain shopping with a woman in terms of pointless standing around waiting for something to happen." Back when I lived in New York, and Trachsel was with the Mets, I simply wouldn't go to the game if he was pitching. He is the slowest worker ever.

The increasingly awesome Hot Dog & Friends heard Celtics play-by-play guy Sean Grande tell Bill Simmons that Miami cut Bobby Jones because he wasn't tanking: "Bobby Jones from Washington was their leading scorer the other night and they cut him because they’re like, 'Whoa! Son. You’re not…you’re not getting this…'" Jones, incidentally, after being signed by the Spurs, now holds the NBA record for most teams played with in a season, with five.

Wazzu, which gave Tony Bennett a contract extension after last season, have given him yet another extension, presumably through when "the sun shines no more forever."

Former Mariner Mike Hampton was warming up before what was to be his first start since 2005 when he strained a pectoral muscle. Hampton has made $14 million each of the past two years and will make $15 million this year, thanks to that nutty contract the Rockies.

Cincinnati rookie Johnny Cueto threw five perfect innings in his major league debut, the first pitcher to do that since the Mariners' own Ken Cloude started his career with a perfect game through 5.1 and a no-hitter through six in '97. And his career was pretty much downhill from there.

Former state long jump champ Norris Frederick of Roosevelt, author of the below sick dunk at Husky Hoopla '06 (he came out of the crowd to join the dunk contest), has qualified for the Olympic Trials after a rough couple of years personally--his father was murdered. The P-I's Molly Yanity has his story.



Today's Action...
M's (Washburn) vs. Orioles (Trachsel), 4:05pm, FSN.
UW Baseball vs. Arizona at Safeco Field, 6:30pm, 880-AM.
Sonics vs. Houston, 7:30pm, FSN.